Innocent Affairs
by ItWillRayne
Summary: Strange occurrences have been happening within the Navajo tribe and only the Quileute, their rival tribe, can help them. In doing so, Jacob meets Katalina, a beautiful and powerful woman who strengthens his belief that his imprint is flawed. What happens when an unknown threat brings these two together in more ways than one? Will these innocent affairs lead to tragic heartbreak?
1. Prologue

******Author's Note: Well here's my comeback to fan fiction! I'm extremely excited and incredibly nervous at the same time but you probably just want to get to the story so I promise I won't hold you long. Feel free to visit my profile just in case you want to know my thoughts on the Twilight Saga. See that wasn't so bad! Now onto the story! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. The only things I do own are my original characters, plot, and a purple Snuggie. ;D**

**Prologue**

There was no quieter time than the silence promised at dead of night in these hollow woods. It is legend that if one were to close their eyes and rest their head upon a fallen juniper tree, Mother Nature herself would sing them a gentle lullaby to caress them into the most peaceful sleep one can experience, second only to death. Coated in the purest, blackest cover of midnight, the stars and the moon stood out against the black abyss serving as a gently, burning torch to always help guide you home. Any given night, one could come into this forest and find a peace like that of nirvana.

But one night will forever be remembered as the exception.

"AHHHHHHH!" a young man of the tender age of fifteen screamed from his bedroom as he thrashed uncontrollably on his makeshift bed. The scream was filled with an agony so excruciating, that it would certainly break any living heart within a five mile radius.

"Zachary!" the boy's mother screamed as she hurried into her son's room, fumbling over herself in her desperation to reach what she believed to be her dying son. She tore at the hand carved, wooden hanging beads that blocked the view of her son and raced to the side of his bed, taking his hand in her own. His hand scorched like that of a freshly sparked ember and though the burn on her own hand was certainly to be severe, she would not let go. "Oh, Zachary, my baby. Shhhhh. Mama's here, shhh."

Another scream erupted, shaking the entire clay house and threatening to bring it crumbling down and the boys thrashing just continued to worsen.

"My baby, my son, shhh. What's wrong? Shhh," she cooed as she gripped his hand tighter and pushed his long, dark hair, drenched with sweat, away from forehead while she cried hysterically. "Oh, God please no! Not my son!"

"Mama," Zachary cried through his tears and clenched teeth. "It burns, it burns so bad mama. Just make it stop, please mama. Please."

He was begging her. Her son was begging her to do the one thing a mother is required to do, to protect her child. She had no idea what was happening and the fact that she couldn't give her son the one thing he desperately needed was eating away at her very soul.

Just then, a small boy entered the room. The chaos had awakened him from a deep sleep filled with dreams expected of a twelve-year-old and thrust him into a real-life nightmare. "Mama! What's wrong with Zachary?! What's going on?!"

Upon the frantic cries of her youngest son, the mother turned around to look at him. Her puffy red eyes and tear-drenched face were an entirely new sight to her son and his eyes widened impossibly more as he witnessed this and heard the breaking of his brother's bones.

"Samuel! I need you to go get your father! He's with the other elders at the council! Hurry there and tell him to get here now! Run as fast as you can, son! GO!"

Samuel was stunned but he did as his mother asked and ran out of the house. His brother's screams echoed in the once quite woods and they followed Samuel as he raced upon the sandy floor, each scream just one more grain of sand falling in the hourglass that was his brother's life.

The tiny patch of forest awakened at the sound of his hectic breathing and his deliberate sprint upon the forest floor caused protest in the inhabitants of the land. Creatures of the night made their presence known as they seemed to carry the message of the horror back in Samuel's little clay house and some even seemed to join in the race.

After running faster than he ever had before, a breathless Samuel reached the council building.

"DAD!" he yelled as soon as he burst through the large, red wooden doors, immediately demanding the attention of the five elderly men in the room. They all looked up in surprise upon the cry and their expressions grew immensely concerned once they realized that the boy had run a mile to them in the middle of the night.

"Samuel, what on Earth are you doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be out in the woods at this late hour?" Samuel's father questioned, in his deep baritone, as he stood up from his seat.

"Dad, you have to come quick! All of you have to come! It's Zachary! Something's really wrong! I think he's dying!" Samuel said as tears streamed down his face.

The eyes of every man in the room widened and the next minute they had all piled into Samuel's father's truck and took off in the direction Samuel had just came.

Zachary's screams greeted the elders and Samuel hopped out of bed of the truck, leading the way to the horror scene currently in progress.

"Evelyn!" Samuel's father declared once he stepped fully into the room. What he saw shocked him and rocked his very core.

There, lying on the floor, was Evelyn holding a sweating, shaking Zachary while they both cried. The popping of bones followed by Zachary's groans and yells was a disturbing sight. None of the elders moved. They all stood completely still, transfixed in their disbelief.

"Oh Elijah," Evelyn cried as she looked up at her husband, "I don't know what's wrong! He just started screaming and now he won't stop shaking! Please, help him!"

Elijah looked back at the other elders, worry evident in his eyes. "Is this what I think it is?" No one answered. "IS IT?!"

"He has all the symptoms," a grey haired man finally said, taking a step forward. "But it's unheard of amongst our people now. The Quileute are the only tribe that can currently activate the gene. I-"

"Unheard of. Not impossible," Elijah sneered at the men before returning his attention back to his wife and son.

"AHHHHHH! SO HOT! AHHHHHH!" Zachary said as he continued to fidget in his mother's arms and dug his fingers into the ground beneath him, his nails leaving a trail of red stained sand in their wake.

"Evelyn, dear, I need you to come away from Zachary. He's going to need-"

"NO! I'm not letting him go! I won't leave him! WHY WON'T YOU DO ANYTHING?! HELP HIM!" Evelyn yelled accusingly at the elders as she held on tighter to Zachary.

"EVELYN! We're going to help him as soon as you move away from him. We can't help him if you're in the way," Elijah tried reasoning with her. "He's my son too, Evelyn. I'm going to help him."

She softened at his quieter tone of voice and saw the same panic and fear she was experiencing, mirrored in the dark eyes of her husband. She gave a slight nod and leaned to kiss Zachary's forehead one more time before she moved from behind him and gently laid him on the ground.

Elijah pulled his wife behind him and she held Samuel tightly in her arms, the lack of warmth making her anxiety increase. She needed a son to hold and protect. She couldn't let the same thing happen twice.

"Elijah, we must get him outside. This room won't be big enough to contain him and by the looks of it, we don't have much time," the youngest elder instructed.

"Zachary, shhhh, everything is going to be fine son," Elijah said quietly to Zachary as he and the youngest elder lifted the young boy, carried him outside and gently place him on a patch of shrubbery a safe distance away from the house, in the cover of the woods. "Now what do we do?"

"Now, we wait. It shouldn't be much longer now," the oldest elder said as he and Elijah joined Evelyn, Samuel and the elderly men in front of the house.

After few more minutes of watching Zachary scream and thrash and beg for death, the popping of his bones increased at an alarming rate. Zachary flipped himself onto his stomach and used all of his strength to push himself up on his hands and knees as his screams were exchanged for snarls. He screamed one last time and the air mystically quivered around him, leaving a huge, brown wolf in its wake.

A scream sliced through the finally quite air and the wolf turned its head just in time to see his mother faint.

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it! :)**

******P.S. I made a better cover for this story than that weird sidebar thing (which is a close up of Katalina, btw)! The link is on my profile so go check it out! :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Here's the new chapter! Thanks for all of the favorites and follows! I really appreciate it! And a special shout out to samjake for reviewing! I really think you're going to appreciate the third chapter, samjake *wink wink* Well on to the story! Enjoy!  
**

**Chapter One**

It was breath-taking. The sight of the New Mexico dessert coated in the majesty that was the breaking of the dawn over the plentiful sand dunes, leaving dark menacing shadows that gently engulfed the dessert floor, was one to see. The young woman standing on top a small plateau sighed contently at the familiar scene unraveling before her. It was easily her favorite sight in the whole entire world (though she really had nothing else to compare it to since she'd never ventured further than this dessert she called home). She'd come to this very spot everyday around this time to catch this private show she felt the heavens reserved just for a select few and though she'd seen this a million times, it never got old. Each day seemed to bring new subtle differences that taunted her to find them in their disembodied voices that floated on the wind currents; a challenge she accepted wholeheartedly.

She inhaled the same crisp dessert air she'd been accustomed to for seventeen years and closed her bright hazel eyes as to trap the vision behind her lids so that she may save it for a later date. At that moment, her ears picked up the slight sound of shifting sand somewhere in the distance.

"You're late," she said to her visitor in her soothing voice like that of honeysuckle.

There was no reply and the gentle whistling of the chatty wind was the only sound to be heard as the tall young man approached the smaller woman, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face into the crook of her neck. Her body responded automatically as she placed her hands on top of his with a smile playing on her full lips. Her eyes remained closed as she took in his comfortable scent.

"How do you do that?" the man asked her in his deep voice, though it came out slightly muttered due to his lips placing small kisses on the girl's shoulder.

"Do what?"

"Hear me coming. I don't understand. There is no way you could have heard me."

This slightly took the woman out of her lust-induced state. She didn't know how she heard him. She just did. At any rate, this was not a matter she would like to be discussing when they were in the state they were currently in.

She turned around in his arms and finally opened her eyes, gazing at the man she loved with adoration as she graced him with one of her smiles known to make men stop in their tracks. His knees gave a little but he recovered and tightened his arms impossibly tighter around her tiny bare waist as if afraid the wind would steal his beloved from him.

"Well, you're not exactly light on your feet, dear."

He chuckled. "True. Stealth is not one of my talents."

"No it is not, but don't fret, Xavier. You have many other talents. More important ones."

"Oh really? Like what?" he questioned and the woman bit her bottom lip before standing on her naked tip toes and hovering her pink lips just millimeters from the man's. He saw this as his queue and quickly diminished the distance between them, taking her lips in his in a soft kiss that soon become heated in its passion. After what felt all too soon, they pulled away.

"You're right, Kat. That is _much_ more important," he said to her in his haggard breaths as he slowly came down from his high the girl's mere presence brought him.

She giggled sweetly and grabbed his large hand in both of her own, guiding him to the edge of the plateau and pulling him down to sit next to her.

They sat in silence for a while. Kat was staring at the enticing view below them while Xavier stared at the enticing view that was a bewildered Kat. She was a vision. Everything about her showed that God had spent just a tad longer when creating this woman. Her hair was an abyss of liquid midnight that spilled in waves down to her gentle hips. It was a dark curtain that along with her silky, light bronze skin served for the perfect canvas in which her olive-shaped honey-colored eyes could decorate. She had a long, slender body like that of an elongated hour glass and though she stood at a respectable 5 foot 7, she was considered to be on the short side since many of the women in her village towered over her by at least 4 inches. She was a masterpiece. Looking at her, with the sun's rays tickling her silhouette and thus giving her the aura of an angel, Xavier wondered how he could be so lucky to be able to call the most sought after woman amongst the Navajo tribe, his.

As he was contemplating this, the sun fully emerged from behind the dunes and shone brightly in the sky as it hovered above them, now out of reach. Kat sighed in disappointment and looked at her boyfriend of the past two years from the corner of her eye.

"You're doing it again," she said softly with a bit of playful reprimand in her voice in response to his staring.

People stared at her a lot. She didn't mind the attention. In fact, she quite liked it. Being beautiful was a privilege. To be young and beautiful was power, something unheard of amongst women in her tribe.

"I'm sorry."

Kat shook her head with a blinding smile, showing her amusement, "No you're not."

"Right again," he said with a smirk. Kat laughed and moved into his side, grabbing his arm and draping it around her shoulders as she played with his fingers absentmindedly.

"Last night. The screaming…"

A shiver ran down Xavier's spine as the recollection of the cries assaulted his mind. "I'm trying to forget."

"I'll never forget. It was terrible. It sounded like someone was dying. I wanted to go see, to go help them, but my father all but banded me from leaving my hut. I just wanted to help," Kat said as she tightened her grasp on Xavier's fingers, tugging them with more fever as she recalled the memory and the anger attached with it.

_The screams came echoing into the small clay hut, bouncing off of the walls and knocking Kat out of her slumber. She sat up on her small twin sized mattress on the ground, squinting through the sheen of exhaustion that still lingered over her eyes. She listened and just when she was just going to write off the horrid screeching as a dream she couldn't recall, another cry was emitted. Then another. She quickly hopped out of bed, racing out of her room due to the all-consuming impulse to soothe the sufferer that latched onto her._

_"Katalina," her father said as he saw her frantically enter the family den. Her hair was wild and resembled that of a black wildfire. Her eyes were just a bright in their panic._

_"Papa! Someone's in trouble! We have to help them!" she demanded as she ran towards the door only to be stopped by her father who blocked her path to the exit._

_"Now, now Katalina, _you _do not have anything to do other than return to your room."_

_She looked at him with astonishment and confusion. "But Papa, someone's in pain! Do you not hear the screams?! They could be dying! We have to help!"_

_"This matter does not concern us. I'm sure the Elders have everything under control. Now, go back to sleep, little one," her father, Joham, replied calmly as he looked at his daughter with a stern look that was a stark contrast from his usual carefree demeanor._

_Her curious and disbelieving looks turned into those of looks of disgust as she tried to move around her father._

_"Katalina!" Joham yelled as he grabbed his only daughter's forearm with a grip that halted her strides. "Do not disobey me!"_

_"I do not know about you father, but I for one cannot sleep when one of my people is obviously so well on their way to meeting their maker!"_

_"That is your problem Katalina. You do not know your place. You are a woman and a young one at that. You do not know half of the things you so honestly believe you do, but as long as you rest your head in this home, you shall do as I say. I will cleanse you of this disobedience one way or another. Go back to your room. _Now."

_"What if I refuse? What if I can no longer stand the screams and leave this hut? What will you do, Papa? Throw me out as if I were mere trash like you did to Theo when he wouldn't kneel to your rule?!" Kat screamed as she looked up into the face of her father. Through her barely contained tears, she could see his anger but she also didn't miss the concern and what she discerned to be sadness that filled his dark eyes. _

_Joham and Katalina were a father-daughter pairing unlike any other. Their bond was unbreakable, cemented in the death of Katalina's mother so many years ago, and though they loved each other immensely, heated disputes of this magnitude were nothing new. This was due to the fact that they were in many ways, the same person. They had the same passions, the same interests, and they endured many of the same losses and heartbreaks. Unfortunately they also shared the same unyielding determination to get their way, the same stubbornness and the same tempers. When either wanted something the other disapproved of, all Hell erupted. Things were said, feelings were hurt, then all was forgiven and forgotten._

_This had not been the case in recent months. _

_Ever since Kat turned seventeen years of age, Joham's grip on her had become suffocating and their fights had gotten even worse. Sorry's took much longer to be exchanged, that is, if they were ever exchanged at all._

_"There you go again! Running your mouth when you have nothing but ignorance in your brain! You know nothing of Theo! Nothing! You are an insolent child and you lack common sense! Your mother would be ashamed of what you have become," Joham seethed and Kat felt as though she was burning alive under his fiery glare._

_"JOHAM!" a shocked voice called out from somewhere within the room. Joham snapped his head up and saw his second wife standing there in her thin nightgown with a stunned look on her chubby face. She shook her head at him in disdain and he slowly began to calm down. _

_Once he regained his composure, he looked down at his daughter. Her face was blank in its hurt and tears ran uncontrollably down her beautiful face. Witnessing this sight and recalling what he said, he was filled with a feeling of shame he was sure would never leave him. It would be forever engrained in his memory along with this sight of an unfamiliar Kat, of the precious daughter he wounded so deeply._

_He softened his expression and gently took both of Kat's tiny hands into his own. "My dear Katalina, I am so so-" he started but did not get the chance to finish as Kat tore herself away from him and ran anywhere he feet would take her._

_The screams were but a distant memory._

A single tear escaped from Kat's eye at the memory and she hastily rubbed it away before sniffing, disgusted with herself for being so weak. Xavier noticed and wrapped his arms around her, soothingly stroking her thick hair as she buried her face into his chest.

"Shh. Don't cry. He was just being a father Kat. You know how much he worries about you," Xavier tried to console her. "You are essentially all Joham has left. You know he did not mean what he said."

Kat hadn't told him all of the details of last night's events, not wanting to bother him with her and her father's petty fights in fear that he might confront Joham in her honor. She couldn't allow any bad blood to ensue between the two most important people in her life.

"Apparently I do not know anything," Kat replied bitterly.

Xavier sighed. He had been trying to convince Kat to make amends with Joham ever since she came rushing into his home earlier that morning. She had been crying hysterically and barely recounted her watered down version of the argument before she refused to speak of it any further and insisted they have sex so she could channel her anger in a more…_productive_ manner. Xavier gave in (of course) and the two took advantage of the empty home in order to make love before returning back to sleep now that the screams had long been silenced.

"As much as I enjoyed last night, you know you are going to have to return home soon. Mariel and Joham must be worried sick."

Kat sighed in annoyance. She knew he was right but she saw no good coming from her returning home. There were nothing but bad memories attached to that place, heartbreak splattered on every single wall and each day promised even more negative connotations.

"Xavier? Am I really that horrible of a Navajo woman? I know am I not one to hold my tongue and I venture alone in the dessert but I do not think that makes me a bad person. I am just…curious. Living here, it's only enabling us. We think there is just this barren land we call our own and nothing else. This tribe is not the whole world. Though I cannot give personal accounts, I know that there is more out there. Amazing things just waiting to reveal themselves. Am I such a horrible person that I want to be there to witness it all for myself?"

Xavier looked down at her with his dark green eyes, silently willing her to glance his way. It was useless. Kat's golden gaze was staring out over the desert into worlds beyond what he or anyone else in the entire world could see. Though she addressed him by name, he knew that her question was not truly directed at him and for this, he was thankful. He had no answer. His thoughts suddenly drifted to his mother. She was a spiritual old woman who loved Kat dearly, she always had but she'd warned her son on more than one occasion that the love of his life was…different.

_"Just because it looks like a Navajo gem, doesn't mean it isn't just a rouge desert stone engaging in an affair with the sun," _she would tell him with her adoring smile and that all-knowing look she was infamous for. His mother always had a way with _knowing_ and her wisdom resembled that of prophecies, guidelines to dealing with one's fate or simply accepting it.

She was never wrong.

He shook the thoughts of his mother's words away and a comfortable silence fell over the young couple as Kat continued to frolic in the other distant dimensions her mind had taken her. Once the sun dangled high in the gentle blue sky, Kat's soul seemed to merge once again with her earthbound body. She shook her head slightly and blinked the bliss away before lifting her head to meet Xavier's waiting eyes.

"Welcome back," Xavier greeted her sweetly before he placed a soft kiss on her nose. "We should really start heading back to the village. Jackson hadn't returned from the emergency council meeting he got summoned to last night when I came here to find you. That means my mother is all in her lonesome and I'm afraid to leave her alone with her poisons and spell books for too long."

Kat laughed and smiled brightly before she pecked his lips once with her own and gracefully stood up.

"Well thanks to you and your cruel brother hiding her cauldron, I doubt she'll be too productive in her craft for quite some time," she joked with a smirk as Xavier climbed onto his feet and stretched, looking every bit of his 6 foot 4 frame.

"The crazy old woman was entering the voodoo chapter in her book. Something had to be done to stop the madness."

They both laughed, Xavier's being a deep rumble while Kat's was as soft as the breeze that caressed them now. It was around 10 AM now and though the slight cool from the night hours was still idly surrounding them, they knew this land like the back of their hands. The blistering heat would be upon them soon and being elevated this close to the sun amidst its fury would be the equivalent of throwing one's self into a blazing bonfire.

As if reading each other's minds, Kat held out her hand to Xavier. He grinned and walked over to her, towering above her as he grabbed her soft hand in his rougher one, calloused from his years of building homes for other's in the tribe and playing guitar.

"Same time tomorrow?" he asked her though he already knew the answer.

"Of course! Next time though, try to be on time," Kat replied as she shoved him playfully and began leading him back to the village.

Xavier bellowed a deep laugh. "Punctuality. Another one of my flaws."

Kat laughed and the sound caused Xavier's heart to stutter. Tightening his grip on her hand they walked leisurely back to their tiny village. Their bare feet shuffled the silky golden sand that became increasingly hotter with each passing moment. The laughter of the happy couple added a pleasant soundtrack to the desolate land as they left the sun behind.

**Author's Note: So there it is! The introduction to some of the OCs. I'm a stickler for detailed character development so things may have been a little slow for now but I promise they will start picking up in the next chapter so just stick around and see :D Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Again, thank you so much for all of the favorites and follows! I'm really excited that people are taking time to read my story! A special shout out to possumm and anna-marie-diamondheart-900 for the really kind reviews. I really appreciate it! Any kind of feedback is encouraged! I love hearing what you guys like and your predictions for where the story may be going. Well, I've blabbed enough. On to the chapter! Enjoy!**

**BTW: I know my characters' names are a little...different and just in case anyone was wondering, Katalina's dad's name is pronounced YO-HA-UM instead of JOE-ham. Think Spanish pronunciations. I hope that helped! Now, really on to the story. I'm serious this time :)**

**Chapter 2**

"Papa! Mariel!" Kat called out once she'd bid farewell to Xavier and bypassed the decorative hanging beds that divided her home from the outside elements of her environment. "Is anyone home?"

Only silence greeted her and she began to feel uneasy as she always did when left completely and utterly alone in this home. She couldn't for the life of her find a plausible reason why the house would be empty this early in the morning. Both her father and stepmother were notorious for sleeping in late but could be awaken at the sound of the slightest stir. Joham hardly ever worked except for odds and ends jobs here and there, but his recent back troubles had put that on hold all together. Mariel was never one for physical exertion unless it was absolutely necessary and her three month pregnancy only added to this characteristic.

"Where is everyone?" she asked quietly to herself, hoping maybe the walls would shed some insight on her family's whereabouts.

She had no such luck and as a shiver ran down her spine, she couldn't help wishing she had asked to borrow Xavier's knife. She once had one of her own that she used for hunting but the moment her father had grown privy to her engaging in "men's work" he had taken it from her and enlisted one of the tribe's women to escort Kat to and fro the berry and water gathering trips. It was supposedly "child barer work" and it both offended and bored Kat to no end. The other women had no reservations about their task and took their tedious plucking and squeezing of berries seriously. Kat, on the other hand, undoubtedly ate more berries than she ever brought home in her burlap satchel. It was just another thing that solidified the fact that she would never be like the other women of her tribe.

She sighed sadly at the unknown deformity that made her the target of disapproving glances from the elderly women of her tribe, but before this emotion could began to drown her in its infinite depths, another shiver shook Kat's frame. As the feeling violently tickled her spine, she instinctively spun around on her heels, her bright eyes squinted in a show of an unfamiliar aggression as she took in the sight of the woman standing about twenty feet away from her.

"Hello?" Kat called out to the woman. "Can I assist you with anything?"

The woman didn't utter a word. She just stood there watching Kat and Kat used this moment of eerie silence to observe the stranger. As she took in the sight of the woman, one thing was clear to Kat: this woman did not belong here. The woman was tiny, about 5' 3'' and her skin was unbelievably pale, lacking any signs of pigmentation and resembling that of the color of freshly fallen snow. Her face was angular and feline-like whilst still gentle in a show of her youth. She was no older than her mid-twenties, of this Kat was sure. While the two women stood there as if frozen alive, a slight breeze passed between them, causing the thin, transparent cream-colored gown that was draped over the white woman's curvaceous body to stir and fly wildly around her. The sun's hungry rays upon her alabaster skin gave it an appearance like that of diamonds.

Kat gasped at the sight.

This woman was absolutely breath-taking, her beauty somewhat other-worldly and unnatural. It enticed, frightened and even angered Katalina. She could not shake the feeling that something was horribly amiss with this beautiful outsider and though the woman's presence brought Kat great unease, her curiosity got the best of her, feeding on the magnetic, alluring spell the woman was undoubtedly casting on the teenager.

"Are you lost?" Kat asked as she slowly moved toward the woman, the deep hatred that filled her gut grew greater with each step she took. As the distance between the women slowly diminished, the white woman tilted her head to the side causing her long dark hair to spill over her left shoulder. This sudden movement triggered something in Kat and she halted her strides.

Just as Kat was about to question the woman with more vigor and demand that she explain who she was and how she managed to survive the nearly impossible trek from the town to the village in the blazing dessert heat that had made victims out of those more qualified than herself, the woman spoke.

"It is a putrid odor that decorates this place," the white woman said softly, soothingly in a voice like that of a canary. "I have heard talk of there being the making of a pack here, out in the middle of nowhere, but you know what they say about rumors, love; they're a dime a dozen. So naturally, I had to see it for myself. In all my years, I've never been to a dog show before. I thought I'd take the time to see what I've been missing. Apparently, it wasn't much. I must say, I am quite disappointed."

Kat had no idea what the woman was talking about but her words seemed condescending and they stirred something in the very core of Kat's soul; something like that of the sheer desire to chase the woman away from her home and her people, to rid them of this strange being.

This woman couldn't be trusted.

"I am certain I have no idea what you are talking about. You have obviously been out in the sun too long. You are delirious. I can offer you some water and directions back into the city if that is what you would like, but either way, you shouldn't loiter out here. Death is a constant threat," Kat replied in a voice that was foreign even to her, one coated in mistrust, suspicion and venom.

"No truer words my dear, no truer words," said the white woman. She straightened her neck and stood tall and with purpose now as her eyes traveled completely over Kat's body. Kat cringed. "You are very beautiful, very beautiful indeed. It would be a great shame if you ever were to become one of them. Your talents would be wasted on such an existence, but of course, that is only my opinion."

"Excuse me, but in your words I can find nothing but riddles. I have made my offer. If you do not wish to take it then I suggest you just take your leave from my village," Kat stated, never taking her eyes off of her visitor as her balled fist began to quake at her sides, the vibrations slowly spreading to the rest of her body.

"I apologize but what I truly need is something I am sure you wouldn't be willing to offer, so I will find it elsewhere. Thank you for your time. Sorry to have disturbed you," she said but Kat was privy to her diction and the mockery that lurked underneath.

The woman smiled at Kat and that was when she saw it.

Sharp white teeth and bright red eyes.

Gasping, Kat hastily began backing up, quickly trying to put as much distance between herself and that…_thing _as she could_._ In her panic, she uncharacteristically stumbled over her feet and fell straight onto her butt. Still feeling the threat of the red-eyed creature, she scrambled in search of a weapon she could use to defend herself. Grabbing hold of one of her stepmother's gardening tools, she jumped to her feet and held it out in front her, both hands braced tightly on the wooden handle, ready to strike.

Her fierce eyes quickly scanned the area but the woman was nowhere to be found. There weren't even any footprints embedded in the golden sea that would tell of the creature's whereabouts. It was as if the sandy ground opened up and pulled her down into the deepest pits of Hell; a place Kat was sure the ghostly woman was more than familiar with.

Though she knew the red-eyed creature was gone, Kat continued to scope out the barren, golden abyss before her. There was this feeling of dread and the newly ever present feeling of anger within Kat at the fact that the "woman" had gotten away.

She felt a sense of…guilt and failure.

"Katalina?" a voice called out.

Kat quickly turned around and saw the very round Mariel waddling towards her. The older woman's short hair was damp due to her sweat and she carried a large wicker basket full of bright red and blue berries. "Since when do you garden my child?"

Kat looked at Mariel's amused face in confusion. Mariel giggled and meaningfully looked down at the sharp tool in her stepdaughter's hand. Kat followed Mariel's eyes and realization claimed her features.

The young woman wasn't quite sure if what she had just witnessed was real or simply a trick of the mischievous sun and heat, but at any rate, her stepmother was in the early stages of a high-risk pregnancy and she didn't want to worry her about something that was based off of pure uncertainty.

"You know me better than that, Mariel. I have always detested gardening and I always will. I was just bored is all. Here, let me help you with that," Kat said dismissively as she dropped the tool and rushed to retrieve the heavy basket from Mariel.

"Thank you, my sweet Katalina," Mariel said with her kind, motherly smile that never failed to warm Kat's heart. It reminded her so much of her birth mother's smile. In fact, if she didn't know how much Joham loved Mariel's personality, she would honestly believe that he only married her for her smile that so much resembled that of his first true love.

"You know you are not supposed to be carrying such heavy things in your current state, you silly woman," Kat playfully chastised Mariel with a smile.

"Oh now you bite your tongue child! Someone has to pick the berries and I know how much you loathe it."

The two walked into the home and Mariel plopped down in the closet seat while Kat headed to the other side of the room where the large, red clay vases of water were sitting idly.

"Mariel, I do not care for this work but I am not the one caring such precious cargo. Next time, please allow me to do the harvesting. You shouldn't bring any unnecessary strain to yourself and the baby."

Mariel simply waved Kat off and with a smile, Kat dragged both the basket and the vase closer to her stepmother and took a seat at the elderly woman's bare feet.

They talked casually as Mariel fanned herself with the handcrafted wooden fan the village's most talented carver made for her as Kat proceeded to clean the berries and made no attempts to hide her disgust at the task.

Just as Kat finished rinsing all of the berries and placed them into a new wicker basket identical to the one the berries arrived in, she graciously got to her feet and carried the heavy basket back into the adjacent room with ease. Once she placed the large, dingy white tarp over the now edible berries in order to protect them from the sun's devious rays and hungry, free-loading insects, she began to hum a song the village children were taught as soon as they were old enough to speak. The song was sung by the workers once the day's daunting task had finally come to a close and after more of a decade of this repetition, it was plain habit to the entire village, Kat included.

"Such a lovely voice you have, Katalina. Your father has told me on numerous occasions that your singing voice was one of his most favorite sounds. He has also informed me of his sadness over the fact that you do not exercise your gift as often as you have in your childhood."

Kat stopped humming the tune immediately. Her back was turned to Mariel and the tensing of her muscles were evident due to the small pieces of fabric that wrapped around her waist and breast, exposing much of her elegant body.

"I am sorry he feels this way. He has not taken it upon himself to mention it to me so it must not be of grave concern. I do not do many things that I have done in my childhood anymore due to the simple fact that I am no longer a child. As my father so clearly points out, I am a woman. Only a woman, but a woman none-the-less. At any rate, I do still sing when the feeling overcomes me. I just haven't had much to sing about recently."

Kat was aware of the harshness of her words and knowing that this anger was misplaced she blew out a breath and turned to face Mariel. She opened her mouth to apologize for her rudeness but before she could, Mariel began to speak.

"I know that things between you and Joham have been estranged lately. You know your father better than anyone Katalina, better than he knows himself sometimes. The same can be said about his knowledge of you."

"My father knows nothing of me! He may have once known who I was but he seems to have absolutely zero interest in learning about who I am becoming. We are strangers now," Kat said as angry tears filled her eyes, the sunlight bouncing off of them giving them the appearance of honey. She refused to let them fall. Crying was a sign of weakness in her eyes and it never fixed anything so she didn't see the point in this unnecessary waste of water. Before the fight with Joham, which felt like days ago due to the day's events, she hadn't cried since her mother was buried. Nothing would ever be as horrible as the witnessing of her role model's lifeless body being covered with sand. She would never cry again.

With the assistance of the nearest stationary object, Mariel removed herself from her seat. She cupped her rounded belly with one hand as she used the other to pull Katalina into a hug. Kat's hands stayed firmly at her sides, but at the motherly touch, she allowed them to at least relax from their tense, fisted form.

"Mi querida," Mariel said soothingly to Kat as she brushed her hair and kissed her cheek. "Joham loves you, Katalina. Never forget that. He tells me there are secrets he knows that he cannot tell anyone, not even you if he is to keep you safe. I tell him he is a crazy old man but then he just asks me to trust him and you know what?"

Mariel pulled away from Kat and looked up into the blank expression the teenager used when combating tears. Kat waited for her to continue.

"I do. I trust him. You must at least _try_ to trust your father, mi hija. Besides, men like women who will try everything at least once, eh. Am I right?" Mariel said with a rambunctious laugh and a wink as she patted Kat on her butt.

Kat burst out in laughter and the sheer sound could've put the most beautiful songbird to shame. "I will try for you, Mariel but I make no promises."

"Stubborn, just like your father. No wonder you two cannot get along. You are the same person!"

Kat giggled at Mariel as she threw her hands up in the air dramatically and muttered her frustration quickly in Spanish.

"Speaking of Papa, where is he?"

Mariel stopped her rant and shrugged, "I am not sure. After he bickered at me about not dragging you home so you could pick the berries instead of me doing it, he said he was going to a meeting with the council. That was many hours ago though. If he does not return before nightfall, I want you to go to the council building and tell him I demand he come home for dinner."

Kat found it strange that her father would even dare talk to an Elder let alone meet with all of them for hours on end. Both she and her father had a problem with authority and Joham was always blunt about his hatred of the tribe's "tyrants" as he referred to them. Though this whole ordeal troubled her, she nodded her consent to her stepmother's wishes. She had bigger worries than her father's play date with the Elders.

With Mariel's back turned, Kat tiptoed with the grace of a professional ballerina over to the basket of berries and quietly lifted the tarp. She grabbed a couple of the sweet berries. The deep crimson red of the two berries that rested delicately in her hand brought about the terrifying eyes of the beautiful creature she'd encountered today. There was no uncertainty now. She knew what she experienced today was real. Vowing to never feel that sense of failure in the presence of the likes of a red-eyed creature, she popped the berries into her mouth and crushed them violently between her perfect, white teeth.

**Author's Note: Well there it is! If any of you have noticed, I planned to update this story weekly (primarily every Tuesday) but unfortunately, I am a college freshman and I have a job so this chapter was a day late :( Buuuut I already have the next two chapters completely written up and edited so things will run smoothly for at least the next two weeks. I plan on writing more chapters this weekend in my down time so yay! The next chapter will introduce some familiar faces and the fourth chapter will do that even more so, so stick around! Thanks again for reading! :D**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! So here it is! The third chapter to the story with the familiar faces! I almost didn't post this chapter today but I had a chance to edit it a little more so I think it's good to go. Hopefully you guys like it! Thanks again to those of you who read and review this story. It really means a lot to me. Anyway, enjoy! ;)**

**Chapter 3**

The sun was setting, the deep orange, crimson, and maroon hues that painted the sky were all the more beautiful given there was no man-made light, or menacing metal buildings obstructing the view. Accompanying the darkening sky came the pleasant breeze that the locals knew all too well would soon become a deathly chill. The cheerful sounds of children laughing and playing floated on the breeze. This was Kat's second favorite time of the day.

"You don't have to come with me, Xavier," Kat told her boyfriend as they casually walked through the village. They were holding hands upon Xavier's request and Kat rolled her eyes at the threatening glares Xavier gave to the many men whose eyes lingered a moment too long on Katalina. "I am only going to retrieve my father."

"I know and if it weren't for the late hour, I would feel more comfortable with you going alone," Xavier replied, his hand absentmindedly gripping Kat's soft caramel colored hand tighter in a show of his need to protect her, from threats both real and imaginary.

He had stopped by to deliver the elms his mother had conjured up for Mariel to help her with her difficult pregnancy. Mariel was a strong believer of the supernatural and after her second miscarriage about a year ago, she enlisted the help of the tribe's infamous medicine woman to ensure this birth had a happier outcome.

"It is barely dusk and it is not like I haven't traveled alone at night before. I have no fear of the dark and I can take care of myself."

This information of her solo journeys into the desert during the cover of nightfall was news to Xavier and he slightly cringed at the thought of his Kat venturing alone in the desert _at night_. Not privy to her conversation with what she believed to be a demon mere hours earlier, he believed she had no fear and that terrified him. "You are almost too honest, dear. You know you are entitled to secrets."

Kat's heart rate picked up at his declaration. "Oh, yes I know. I have recently accumulated quite a few actually."

A frown formed on her face and she stared ahead of them. Xavier saw the distant look in her eyes and just strolled idly by her side as she thought. Little did he know of the horrid red-eyes embedded in her memory that she was currently viewing in vivid detail.

"I think that if no one was afraid of being judged or felt shame in anything they did, secrets would cease to exist," Kat said in her dream-induced voice. It was a quiet and thoughtful tone she reserved for uttering her most private thoughts out loud and one she only used with Xavier. "Don't you agree?"

Xavier looked to his left to see Kat's hazel eyes looking at him in anticipation and another emotion he couldn't quite place.

"Well yes, to some extent. But you forget about the secrets that are used in order to protect."

"But secrets are essentially lies. They are the omission of the truth. Maybe it is just me but I want the _choice_ of being protected and I do not wish to be protected by way of dishonesty."

Kat was aware of how hypocritical she was being, but she needed to gauge his reaction to justify her silence in relation to the creature. She herself didn't tell Mariel, or anyone else for that matter, about the red-eyed creature but that was more based on the fact that she didn't know _how _to tell anyone what she had seen in a way she felt would be believable and not have the entire village take her for even more of a crazy woman. She was already frowned upon for the sour taste her expected duties left in her mouth; she didn't need any more reason to exile herself, at least not without indisputable merit. Regardless, she had in fact been fiercely debating with herself whether or not she should tell Xavier about her horrifying encounter today. He wasn't just her boyfriend but her best friend and she told him everything. She knew she could trust him and that he wouldn't think of her as mental, but something within her made it impossible for her to utter a word about the creature. She'd open her mouth to tell him but only silence ensued. A part of Kat (a more primal part) yelled to her that this was _her _fight. However, unable to shake the feeling that the woman was dangerous, she swore to herself that if she were to ever see the creature again, she'd scream her findings from the top of the highest plateau.

Claims of insanity be damned.

Feeling the tension of the unknown internal battle within Kat and seeing her gaze begin to drift back into those other realms in which he wasn't invited to go, Xavier quickly reclaimed Kat's attention.

"Is this your way of telling me not fuss about your late night strolls into the desert? Because I already have a rant prepared."

Kat giggled, though it was extremely forced. "Take from it what you will. I love you very much but your fussing has no effect on me, but do not worry. This is true for everyone who disapproves of the things I find joy in."

"I highly doubt getting lost in the desert is a joyful experience."

"That is why it is joyful for me. I never get lost," Kat admitted cockily with a smirk playing on her lips.

"Whatever you say, dear."

The couple walked further into village laughing and aimlessly chatting. Once they reached the outskirts of the village, they saw a pair of old women sitting Indian style on the ground. As they moved closer to the women, one of them looked up from the clay pot she was molding and took notice of them.

"Xavier! Come, come!" the smaller of the two women called out to them. Her hand was covered in slimy red clay and she waved it viciously from side-to-side to reinforce her demand.

Kat sighed. The Tsosie Twins were two of the oldest women in the Navajo tribe. They were strict in their traditions and never strayed from the way of life established by the very first Navajo people. They were sticklers for the rules and they made no attempts to hide their distaste for Kat and her blatant disregard for those things they found to be sacred. Unfortunately, Xavier was a well-liked boy in the village and the Tsosie Twins were quite fond of him and his charms. He halted his steps, thus causing Kat to stop walking as well as he used his free hand to return the wave.

"It will just be for a minute. You can stay here if you like. I will return shortly," Xavier said quietly to Kat. He knew that she was well aware of the daggers the twins were sending her way and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.

"No, no. It's fine. Maybe if I go with you, they will grow weary of such rebellion in such close proximity to them and we won't have to endure their mindless gossip for too long," Kat replied, trying her best to smile through her barely contained annoyance.

The twins didn't like her and the feeling was mutual.

After asking Kat if she was sure more times than she would have liked, he finally tugged on her hand and pulled her behind him toward the women.

"Hello ladies. Hard at work I see."

"Ah yes. All in a day's work for a _real _Navajo woman," the youngest twin said pointedly at Kat though it came out with a slight lisp given her missing teeth.

"Nice to see you as well, Ms. Tsosie," Kat said through gritted teeth, all of which were intact and present.

The older woman grunted in response and just as Kat opened her mouth in rebuttal, Xavier squeezed her hand once and began to speak.

"Those are some very beautiful pots you two have there," Xavier complimented with a bright smile.

His change of subject worked and the women turned their attention and softer expressions onto him.

"Such a sweet young man you are, Xavier."

"Yes, very sweet in deed and so handsome."

"Oh yes, very handsome." The twins seemed to only be communicating with each other and Kat stared at them with scrunched brows. The twins were eerie old women and the way they interacted with each other resembled that of an insane person talking to themself. It never failed to disturb Kat.

"These pots are special. They are for our granddaughter, Hannie. She and the Mooks boy are getting married on the next full moon."

"This will be the last granddaughter we will have to mold wedding pots for but we still have a great-niece whom is unwed! You just must meet her when she visits!" the oldest twin gushed to Xavier as if Kat wasn't standing right by his side, witnessing first hand their attempt to convince Xavier to leave her for their niece.

Kat's blood boiled. "Excuse me!" she began but Xavier abruptly cut her off by wrapping his arm around her waist and tucking her into his side before deliberately and sweetly placing a kiss on her lips to silence her.

He looked her in the eyes and she saw the apologies and slight humor there. His plead for her to just let the petty matter go wasn't lost on Kat and although it physically pained her to do so, she nodded slightly. Still, it was implied that her glare upon the twins would remain a deadly one.

When the couple ended their private, silent conversation, they looked back at the twins and came in on their gossiping about the tribe's recent scandals.

"It is a shame."

"Yes, such a shame. The _whole family_ gone. Just disappeared."

"Such a nice family they were. Such good boys they had," the oldest twin said sadly with a _tsk._

Kat was barely registering the twins' exchange, writing all of their chatter off as trifling blather but at the mention of the disappearance, her interest was piqued. "Disappearance? Who has disappeared?"

The youngest twin sighed in annoyance but she couldn't resist the opportunity to spread the details of someone else's life. "Elijah, Evelyn and the boys. No one has seen them since the crescent moon."

"It is as if they vanished into thin air."

Kat's eyes immediately widened in horror. Elijah, Evelyn and their two sons, Zachary and Samuel, were a well-respected family amongst the tribe. Elijah was thought to be the most genuine of the Elders. He always had the well-being of the tribe in mind and he wasn't afraid to challenge tradition if it meant bettering the Navajo people. His wife Evelyn was a beautiful woman who loved every member of the tribe as if she carried them all in her own womb. Zachary and Samuel were a couple of years younger than Kat and she often offered her services of watching over them when their parents' duties caused them to take leave from the village. The three had become close friends over the years and when Kat overlooked Zachary's immense crush on her, they could be thought of as close siblings. This was terrible news and Kat swore she could feel her heart shattering piece by piece.

"The last crescent moon?" Zachary asked to no one in particular, his eyes squinted in thought. "That was the same night of the horrid screaming."

"You don't think…" Kat began as she looked up at Xavier with pleading eyes. She had already come to the conclusion that the missing family and the terrible screams were related but she was reaching for any hope that could disprove this theory.

Xavier looked at her with sad eyes and Kat knew that he couldn't give her this satisfaction.

Something terrible had happened to her friends.

"Well why is no one searching for them then?! An entire family has vanished and not one soul has made an effort to bring them home!"

"Hold your tongue, you rude child!" the oldest twin demanded and Kat's anger began to shake her entire frame. "There was a search party assembled but in light of the new body found out yonder the Szihing dunes, fear has entered the hearts of even our bravest warriors and the council has voted against the search effort."

"Another body? But that would make this the third one this month," Xavier exclaimed in shock.

"That is no reason to cower! Tourist lose their way and parish from dehydration every year out in the desert!" Kat yelled. "Four of our own are gone without any trace of their whereabouts and here you sit, idly molding your insignificant bowls! We must do something!"

"Kat-" Xavier began but Kat was deaf to anything other than solutions in finding the missing members.

Snatching her hand out of the confines of Xavier's grasp, she took off in the opposite direction of her previously intended destination.

"Katalina! Where are you going?" Xavier asked Kat as he struggled to keep up with the determined strides of his girlfriend. "The council building is the other way!"

"Damn the council! If they won't do anything then I will do it myself!"

"I understand your worry but what can you do, Kat?"

For this, she had no answer. She honestly didn't have a plan of action. She was once again acting on impulse as she always did. She was at a lost but her pace did not waver in the slightest.

"I do not know. Look for evidence of where they might have gone off to. Anything other than merely sitting around doing nothing!"

She was running now and with a frustrated sigh, Xavier started right on her heels. Once they reached the abandoned hut, Kat gasped. For a moment, she thought she had made a wrong turn for the home before her resembled nothing of the place she remembered. It was just so bleak and an unnerving silence lurked all around. There were no longer any sounds of laughter and the smell of Evelyn's renowned cooking was only a distant memory.

Kat regained what was left of her composure and slowly walked toward the hut as if not to disturb any living thing that may have taken up residence in the home. She peeked her head inside of the doorway, her long dark hair pooling over her shoulder and hanging well past her waist. She eventually entered the home and began looking for any clues as to where they may have gone, but there was nothing there.

"Kat," Xavier said as he approached where his love stood still as stone in the middle of the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go. There is nothing here. Maybe they have just taken a vacation. It is really none of our business what they choose to do with their time or where they choose to go."

"You do not honestly believe that, Xavier. How could you when the truth is staring you so blatantly in the face?" Kat challenged him. Though she knew he meant well, his attempts at pacifying her only caused her to project her anger onto him. She did not want to be comforted, she wanted answers.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kat caught sight of piece of wood on the ground. Extracting Xavier's hand from her shoulder, she slowly walked over to the corner of the room and kneeled down, her knees immediately becoming embedded with the tiny, sharp particles of sand. Reaching out, she grabbed the piece of wood. Taking in the details, she realized that it wasn't a stick but instead the early carvings of a flute that had been abandoned prior to completion. She immediately thought of Zachary and his hobby of crafting. She could picture him sitting right in this very corner with his knife in hand, chopping away precisely at the bark with an artistic touch, manipulating it into the shapes he desired. This memory refueled Kat's determined fire. Clutching the flute tightly in her hands, she jumped to her feet and sprinted out of the home.

As she ran, she was aware of Xavier's presence behind her and she was thankful he made no attempts to question or stop her.

As the red, worn council building loomed in sight, Kat's pace slowed until she stood before the large, menacing door. She pounded relentlessly on the shabby door, receiving a few painful splinters in doing so.

"Kat?! What do you think you are doing? Have you lost your damn mind?" Xavier's older brother, Jackson, questioned as he slightly opened the door and peeked his head out. Xavier was in his mid-twenties and thus the youngest elder in Navajo history, assuming the role after the death of their father six years ago. Though a very carefree and fun-loving young man, he took his job as an elder very seriously and disrupting a council gathering was a means of punishment.

"I must speak to the council," Kat demanded, breathlessly.

"Well I am sorry but your concern will have to wait. The council is attending to a very pressing matter at the moment."

"Jackson, do you know anything further about the disappearance of Elijah and his family?" Xavier prompted, finally speaking for the first time.

"That is none of your concern, little brother. If that is what you wish to discuss with the council Kat, then I suggest you not worry your pretty, little head over it any longer," Jackson taunted as he patted Kat's head, trying to alleviate the tension. "We have everything under control."

"Oh do you now? Since when does dismembering a search party's efforts to do the noble thing constitute as having everything under control?" Kat asked, her anger seething.

Frustrated, Kat didn't allow Jackson to answer before she took him by surprise and pushed her way past him and into the council building.

"_Kat! Come back here!"_ Jackson yelled out to her in a harsh whisper as not to alert the other elders of her uninvited presence. She ignored him and he swore under his breath before chasing after her.

He caught up to her and grabbed her arm but not before the other elders in the room noticed her presence.

"Jackson, Katalina, what may I ask is going on here?" the elder, Rollan, questioned as he prevented Kat from proceeding any further into the room by standing in her way.

"I am very sorry, Rollan. I will escort Ms. Yates out now."

"You will do no such thing!" Kat roared, snatching her arm out of Jackson's hand and turning to face Rollan. "Why have you not done anything to find Elijah's family?! They have been gone for a day now and I've only been alerted to this by way of the gossip reel! We must find them! They could be hurt…or worse!"

"The whereabouts of the Goodwind family is of no concern to you, Katalina. You know better than to come bursting into the council building without invitation, especially when a meeting is in session."

"For argument's sake, let us pretend I am ignorant to that fact," Kat dared as she countered Rollan's glare with one of her own. "How can you say that the vanishing of the Goodwinds does not concern me?! They are my people! We are a tribe! That means we are one, or have you forgotten that in your recent rise to power?"

Rollan had just recently become the head of the Navajo elders when his father fell ill a little less than four months ago. The old man was turning ninety this year and Xavier's mother didn't give him much longer to live.

"Katalina!" an enraged voice called out.

Kat knew this voice all too well. She looked past Rollan's overweight frame and instantly locked eyes with those of Joham. To her surprise, he looked more exhausted than angry, but the fury was still hard to miss.

"You were raised better than this. You do not use that tone with your elders."

"But Papa! The Goodwinds…"

"Are fine," Joham informed her.

Kat looked at her father with confusion. His clothes were damp with sweat (which was strange considering the rapidly decreasing temperature) and his usually tame hair was sprawled out wildly on his head. "I do not understand."

"No. You do not understand and yet, you are here. Why do you love to embarrass me so, mi hija?"

Father and daughter stood there just staring at each other. It was as though they were the only two inhabitants in the room. Suddenly, the creaking sound of a door opening erupted throughout the large room, pulling them out of their trance. Kat saw her father mouth to her to leave, but she ignored his plea and looked away from him to where the sound emitted.

Confusion once again made its way onto Kat's face as she saw one of the tribe's elders enter the room followed by two men she had never seen before. The strangers were huge, standing well above 6' 8''. They looked like kin with their short, cropped black hair, rich copper skin, sculpted facial features and matching attire of nothing but khaki shorts. All three of the men were sporting guarded expressions and the strangers seemed to be on high alert, their dark eyes constantly taking in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Rollan gave Jackson a look and he nodded his head before gently but firmly placing his hand on Kat's shoulder. Had she not been so engulfed in the strange show before her, she would've knocked his hand away. Instead, she just watched as Rollan turned his back to her, shooing her away as though she were nothing more than some bothersome insect, and made his way toward the group of men.

"Ah. Mr. Black, Mr. Uley. I hope you have good news for us?"

One of the strangers nodded his head. "Yes, it took longer than expected but both boys are finally back to normal."

The other stranger, who was a bit taller than his comrade yet had a more youthful face, scoffed. "And by that he means they're normal _enough_, yah know, given the circumstances."

"Jacob," the shorter man warned.

"_Sam_," the one named Jacob replied in an irritated voice, much like that of an annoyed teenager though he appeared to be in his mid-twenties.

Sam shook his head and rubbed his hand over his face once while Jacob had an anxious energy about him like he had somewhere else he'd really rather be at the moment.

"Well then, thank you very much for your assistance. This is all very new to us. I hope this was not too much trouble for you," Rollan replied, awkwardly reaching out to shake hands with both men.

Kat felt she missed something when Sam looked at Jacob with a fierce glare and Jacob returned the gesture with just as much intensity. Sighing once again, Sam looked back at Rollan and forced a smile onto his face.

"It was no problem at all."

"Yeah, don't mention it," Jacob replied. It seemed half-hearted but Kat couldn't tell whether it was due to bitterness or just plain exhaustion. All of the men looked beat.

Still confused, Kat continued to observe the new faces. When the Jacob one raised his arm to run his hand through his hair, she finally caught sight of the large tattoo that adorned his muscular bicep. Sam had identical body art on the exact same arm. Kat knew she was staring but she couldn't help herself. Her curiosity was getting the best of her. Apparently her staring was fierce enough that Jacob seemed to sense eyes upon him and turned his head, instantly locking his dark eyes with Kat's bright ones. His mouth gaped a little at the sight of her but he quickly recovered and tore his eyes away from hers when Joham cleared his throat.

"I know there is some bad blood that still lingers between our tribes, but you have done us a great justice, so please do not hesitate to call upon us to return the favor."

"The Quileute tribe thanks you," Sam said.

Upon hearing this, Kat's mouth fell to the floor and her eyes nearly escaped from her head.

"_Quileute?!_" she spat through clenched teeth. "Four of _our_ people have gone missing and instead of insuring their safe return home, you people are making nice with our enemy tribe! Please tell me what makes the appearance of the Quileute graver than a loss of the Navajo?!"

"Katalina!" Joham yelled. "I apologize for my daughter. She-"

"Hey listen, lady! We didn't come here to talk diplomats. Your elders _invited_ us here to help _your people_!" Jacob countered. "I can think of ten much more important ways I could be spending my time right now!"

"Well then go! Your kind should not have even been allowed to step foot onto our land in the first place, you traitors!"

"Wow! Talk about ungrateful," Jacob replied with a glare.

"I do not know what noble deed you _think _you have done for us and frankly I could not care less. What I do know, however, is that I do not care for your tone."

Jacob bellowed a sarcastic laugh. "Well yours isn't exactly all rainbows and gumdrops either, sweetheart."

"What did you just call me?!" Kat yelled at the condescending name and her whole body began to shake. Upon seeing this, a look of bafflement shown on Jacob's face and he quickly looked at Sam. Sam looked equally as dumbfounded but he said nothing, only shrugging his shoulders before returning his attention back to the raging woman. At that same moment, Kat made a motion to move towards Jacob but she didn't get far. Fighting to see through the red haze that tinted her sight, she looked down at her arm to see Xavier's hand wrapped tightly around it.

"Kat! Stop this nonsense! We're already in enough trouble as it is," he cautioned her. She knew he was right and begrudgingly, she blew out a breath to calm herself down. Her violent shaking stopped.

She looked up and when she saw her father's disappointed face, she hung her head in shame.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the natives in the room, emphasizing the extreme tension between the feuding tribes.

Sam cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Well, on that note, it's getting late and we have been away from our friends and family long enough. Sorry if we caused you any trouble. We'll be leaving now."

With a pointed look at Jacob (which he blatantly ignored), Sam said his individual goodbyes and Rollan thanked him one more time before offering to walk them out. Jacob soon followed his lead and Kat could hear the exchanging of apologies between Jacob and her father for Kat's rude outburst.

"It's no problem. It's been a long day," Jacob said carefree as if there hadn't just been a screaming match in which he had been a key player in only moments ago. He patted Joham once on the shoulder before he began making his way towards the door. As he reached Kat, he stopped. Kat lifted her head and looked at his awaiting face. She couldn't stop the glare that instantly tugged at her eyes.

Her guard was up.

"Look, I'm really sorry about yelling at you. I didn't mean to."

Kat stared at him blankly waiting for him to say something she deemed relevant. He groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. It was evident this was painful for him.

"I think we got off to a really bad start. Truce?" he asked. With a surprisingly genuine grin that was somewhat disarming to Kat, he extended his hand out to her.

Xavier took on a protective stance at her side, looking at Jacob with an expression of unease.

She just stared at his hand for a moment in contemplation.

"_Katalina,"_ Joham warned his daughter.

With an irritate sigh, Katalina took Jacob's hand in hers. His large hand practically swallowed hers whole and the heat radiating from his palm caused Kat to gasp at the contact. Jacob smirked at her reaction and she looked at him in puzzlement and the still present annoyance.

"Hi. I'm Jacob Black," he introduced himself before Kat could question him about his unnatural body temperature.

"Katalina Yates," she replied begrudgingly while searching his eyes for any signs of animosity. She could see none there but she didn't allow herself to relax. He was still the enemy.

"It was very…_nice_ meeting you, Katalina."

An amused yet somewhat harsh scoff escaped from Kat's lips. "I beg to differ."

Jacob let out a bellowing laugh, obviously not hearing the twinge of harshness or simply finding her effort at anger humorous.

"Is something funny?" she questioned with a glare at him.

Jacob simply smiled brightly at her. It was somewhat contagious and if she weren't so emotionally exhausted at the moment, she would've smiled back. "Nah. Well, I guess I'll see you around then."

He most certainly would not be "_seeing her around_." They were from rival tribes and the possibility that their paths would ever cross again was highly unlikely and if they ever were to meet again, it certainly wouldn't be under positive circumstances. She looked at him in guarded bafflement.

He raised his eyebrow and smirked at her. "It's just an expression, Navajo."

"Oh. Yes, well in that case. Not if I can help it, _Quileute_," she replied, standing to her full height now that the tension had lessened and the weight of her father's words had started to lose their sting, if only slightly.

He laughed yet again before releasing Kat's hand from his and winking at her. She could sense Xavier become tense at her side but she ignored him. His jealousy was unnecessary and it knew no bounds.

Jacob then nodded a goodbye to Xavier before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking backwards away from them. He waved one final goodbye to the elders before turning around and exiting the building. The door closed loudly behind him.

Little did any of them know that this would be the last time they'd see each other for four, long years.

**Author's Note: Well, that's it! Just FYI, Jacob is seventeen at this point in the story. Next chapter is chop full of wolf boys so look out for that. Thanks for reading! :D**


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry it's late! Thanks again for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Enjoy! :D**

**Chapter 4**

The sun was just beginning to win dominance over the great grey, cloud cover that was forever present in the sky above the tiny town of Forks, Washington. While other residents were sleeping in late, Jacob Black was wide awake. He was within the confines of his garage, his large hands painted in black, slick oil as he continued to tinker with the engine of some run down Mustang he was hired to revive.

He and Sam had returned from their daunting trip to some random desert in New Mexico the day before and upon their arrival, the first thing Jacob wanted to do was visit his beloved imprint, Renesmee. Unfortunately, he had missed her first birthday party and he was dying to make it up to her. When Sam first approached him about joining him on this trip to the middle of nowhere to come to the aid of their rival tribe, Jacob had flat out refused but Sam had a way of making every matter one of life and death and Jake agreed to go more so on the grounds of getting Sam to shut up.

In recent months, there had been a dramatic rise in missing person cases in New Mexico. The catch was that these random tourist weren't missing at all. Every "lost" tourist somehow ended up on the outskirts of Navajo land. All of the bodies were drained of blood and teeth impressions adorned every single corpse. It didn't take a genius to know that the _person _committing these horrible murders was the reason two of the tribe's boys had phased. They lived in close proximity to where the murders took place and must have gotten a potent whiff of the vampire stench. The fever was setting in and since the Navajo bloodline was thought to be cleansed of all wolfy remnants due to their putting a stop to all interaction with those of the Quileute tribe, it was safe to say that the locals were freaking out. The trip took them about nine hours to complete and they spent the whole day phased trying to get the brothers, Samuel and Zachary, to calm down long enough to phase back into their human forms.

It was no easy task.

_The loud sound of yet another piece of furniture breaking shook the large council building as the cream colored wolf freaked out once again and thrashed around in a frenzied panic._

"_It's not working! I can't change back! I'm going to be stuck like this forever!" Samuel's cries radiated loudly in Jacob's head._

_Initially, Jacob and Sam had tried to talk to the boys while in their human forms, but the unease of being at a disadvantage on unfamiliar enemy territory didn't appeal to the Quileute men. They tried to keep their wolves at bay as best they could but even the very distinct smell of the Navajo people proved too strong to ignore. Their wolves decided that the threat was too great and thus, purely off of instinct, the heat began to spread throughout their tall, muscular frames, flames licked at their insides, leaving in their wake two gigantic wolves._

_Jacob and Sam, being older than the Goodwin brothers and of Alpha status, towered over the newly phased Navajo boys. This pleased their wolves greatly and they couldn't stop the pompous grins that maneuvered their way onto their faces, though it wasn't as if they were trying very hard in the first place. _

_Pride aside, this is where the problems began. _

_Since Samuel nor his older brother, Zachary, belonged to neither Jacob or Sam's packs, they couldn't initially communicate with each other while all four of the males took on their wolf forms. Unfortunately, the animalistic instinct that was so deeply embedded in the Alphas wouldn't allow them to phase back into their human forms while the threat of attack by the Navajo wolves still loomed over them._

"_This is just _fucking great_!" Jacob seethed to Sam as they sat on their haunches, their large furry heads turned to look at each other as the Goodwin brothers ran around uncontrollably, resembling that of decapitated chickens. "We run all the way here to this goddamn sandbox to help these puppies phase back to human and now we can't even do it ourselves!"_

_Sam rolled his large, black eyes at Jacob. He practically had to beg to get the seventeen year old to even accompany him on his trip and suddenly he was regretting it, given the fact that Jacob hadn't stopped bitching about something or another since their change of scenery. "Don't be so dramatic, Jacob. Rollan said the medicine woman would be here soon enough. I know it's hard, being so far away from your imprint, especially since yours is so young, but you've got to get a handle on your anger. The boys can sense it and it's just making things worse."_

_Jacob glared at Sam for bringing up Renesmee. Though he knew this sudden separation was the reason for his sour mood, something deep in his being was annoyed at the fact that his emotions were never thought to genuinely be his own. He didn't understand why no one believed that his emotions and his imprint weren't always synonymous._

"_Whatever. I just want all of this shit to be over with. What can this medicine lady do anyway? We're trying to get them to phase back into human beings, not cure them of the common cold," Jacob said as he watched the Goodwin brothers begin to fight, rapid blurs of brown and beige ensued. They were hopeless. "I mean, unless there's been some sudden mystical breakthrough with Benadryl that I'm not aware of, I don't see how she's gonna do us much good."_

_Sam sighed through his lax muzzle, his enormous shoulders falling with the exhale. "It's not like we have many other options, Jake. I would tell you to shut up and keep your thoughts to yourself, but even then I'm fucked."_

"'_Skay. It's not like I'd listen to you anyway."_

_This had been the most time Jake and Sam had spent alone together while phased since the divide was made, resulting in the two separate packs. They were both Alphas and their primal, instinctual need to reign dominate over the other was creating enormous tension. Being behind enemy lines didn't exactly help matters either._

_They were both on edge._

_A beautiful, handcrafted tribal vase was the next victim of the brothers' tussle. At the sound of the shattering, the older wolves' ears perked up._

_Sam closed his eyes and shook his head, his silky black fur swaying before he begrudgingly climbed onto all fours. "I'll go break them up. _Again_," he said as he jogged over to the smaller wolves, his stream of profanities assaulting Jacob's mind._

_Alone in his boredom with no one to complain about it to, Jacob stood up, his massive weight causing his paws to sink far into the temperate sand below, and walked the short distance to the back door of the large, building. The structure of the building reminded him of his makeshift shed/sanctuary back home but the similarities stopped there. He carefully dipped his head down, his ears flat against his head as he slightly nudged the already ajar back door with his nose. The door was cracked just wide enough that he could peek part of his head out without warranting any unwanted attention. Taking in the scenery (or more like the lack-there-of), the russet wolf sighed. There was nothing but sand for miles. There was such an abundance of the golden particles that he felt as though he would drown if he dared step foot outside of the wooden structure._

_He continued to gaze at the nothingness before him, when suddenly his head began to ache. His enhanced eyesight caused him to zoom in on the view before him with laser precision. They picked up on every little detail: the sharp edges of the sandy crystals, the grooves in the dry, perished weeds, the tiny serpent sliding a centimeter beneath the sand over fifty feet away. There was so much to look at and he couldn't help but see it all._

_He forcefully shut his eyes and whimpered when it all got to be too much._

"_This place sucks," he thought to himself as he began backing up until his body was fully within the building and away from the headache that lay just beyond the threshold._

_Suddenly, a loud growl erupted and Jacob turned his head to look at the ensuing battle behind him. _

_Sam was in attack mode. _

_His ears were plastered to the sides of his head, his front half lay crouched low onto the ground, coating his black fur in pesky specks of sand, his back side was high in the air, his tail pin straight, his muscles were coiled and his sharp, white teeth were barred menacingly._

_Both of the Goodwind boys were sporting miniature similar positions._

Fuck! _Jacob thought. He pushed off on his hind legs, sprinting towards the three angry wolves, but before he could reach them, Sam pounced. Jacob followed his fellow Alpha's lead and crashed into Sam's side, sending the black wolf flying back into an adjacent wall with so much force, that it was a miracle the old, feeble building was still standing in the aftermath._

"_What the Hell, Black?! That fucking hurt!" Sam shouted in his mind with an audible snarl as he stood up and shook himself, sending sand flying everywhere._

"_What was I supposed to do?! You were about to kill those kids! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jacob questioned. He moved around the stoic Sam in a semicircle before stopping and facing him from a distance._

_His Alpha mode was in overdrive and he didn't want to give his wolf the temptation of finishing Sam off in a duel._

_Sam was aware of Jacob's current dominate position and with his head downcast, a look of bafflement painted his dark features. "I didn't mean to. I was just trying to break them up and one of them bumped into me by mistake. I couldn't help it. It just happened."_

"_Maybe we shouldn't have come here. Obviously, our experience isn't going to be of much help if we all end up killing each other anyway."_

_As they continued to contemplate whether or not they should just return to La Push, the faint sound of a door opening caused the four wolves to simultaneously turn their heads towards the door in a way that looked weirdly choreographed. At that moment, a tiny native woman entered the building with Jackson following close behind her. The young elder and the woman resembled each other greatly. It was obvious they were related._

"_This way mother," Jackson told the little old lady as he shut the door the door behind them and locked it. "Mother! Please do not get too close!"_

_Jackson reached out in an attempt to stop his mother from getting any closer to the wolves but she was quite fast despite her age and his efforts were futile as she moved within just a few feet of Jacob. He towered over her, his head lowered to look at her with a look of confusion._

"_You," she said softly, her eyes locked onto Jacob's. "I've seen you before. I've seen you both."_

_At this, Sam slowly approached Jacob and the old woman, much to Jackson's dismay._

"_What is she talking about, Jake?" Sam asked from where he was standing at Jacob's right._

_Jacob didn't answer. He just stood there looking at the woman and she did the same. Though the struggles of her life were spelled out in the many deep wrinkles on her face, her eyes held a certain brightness to them and seemed as though they could be found in a much youthful face of a woman thirty years younger than their owner. It was strange. There was just something about her that perplexed him. As to whether this bewilderment was decent or wicked? He hadn't decided yet._

"_You two are the colors that have assaulted my dreams the past few moons. The black smoke and the red flames. You have caused me many sleepless nights, young Quileute," she said with a giggle and a smile as she wiggled her prune-like finger at them in mock reprimand. "I thought your presence would end my insomnia, but I am sad to say that it I believe this to just be the beginning. Is not that correct, Mr. Black?"_

"_Do you know her or something?" Sam asked, nervously shifting his weight._

_Jacob shook his head once. He could understand Sam's unease. The woman was kind of creepy and she fit every stereotype of a Native witch from the horror stories his older sisters, Rebecca and Rachel, had subjected him to in his youth. They were gruesome accounts of the use of black magic and the severing of one's limbs by way of pure voodoo. They never seemed to cease in haunting his dreams all those years ago._

"_Mother. I do not to mean to seem rude but the Quileute have been here for quite some time and I am sure they would like to return home soon so-"_

"_Oh yes! Silly me! I almost forgot. Now, where did I put that…" said Jackson's mother as she dug into the many pockets that ornamented her dress which appeared to be dyed blue through the use of smashing ripe blueberries onto the fabric._

_As she fumbled around in search of whatever it was she was looking for, Jacob and Sam exchanged a look._

"_So is it just me or is she kinda insane?"_

_Sam snorted in amusement. "Hell yeah she is. This whole place is a damn sideshow."_

"_Fuck yeah."_

"_Ah ha! There you are you pesky little potion," she cheered as she held up a tiny glass bottle in her hand. The sunlight that seeped in through the cracks in the ceiling illuminated the bottle, the deep purple liquid inside swished around in response to the woman's shaking hands._

_To get a better look at the "potion" the Goodwins moved in closer to the center stage of the chaos. Their movements were slow as Samuel approached Jacob and Zachary nearly flanked Sam. This unsettled the Alphas for they felt as though they were being surrounded._

_The growling ensued._

"_Oh no! We will have no more of that," she said with a tsk at the wolves' antics. She removed the cork from the bottle and poured enough into her cupped hand that her entire palm was drowning in the liquid. She held her hand out to the nearest wolf. "Here you are. Drink up, Zachary."_

_Zachary did what she said without hesitation. His large tongue lapped her hand twice and he drank the liquid. Samuel soon followed his lead._

_She then turned to Sam, her hand outstretched and a smile on her face._

"_What do I do?"_

"_Gee, I don't know. Maybe she wants you to swim in it."_

_Sam glared at him. "What if it's some kind of poison or something?"_

"_If it was poison, I doubt she'd feed it to two of her tribe's young."_

"_Maybe it isn't poisonous to _them, _yah know because they're Navajo. I've got a fiancé to get back home to."_

"_For the love of…just drink it Uley! At this rate, neither one of us will ever see our imprints again whether we drink it or not. It's one of those damned if yah do, damned if yah don't type of situation."_

_Sam groaned. "Fuck it," he said, finally relenting and lapping the drink into his mouth._

_As the woman made her way to Jacob, the red wolf's deep brown eyes were looking at Sam, curiosity shone in them._

"_Take a picture, Black," Sam bit out. Though his imprint to Emily was a couple of years older than Jacob's to Renesmee, the great distance between them still pulled at his heart strings with as much intensity as a newly formed imprint. His agitation grew with each passing second. _

"_So are you feeling any nausea or heartburn," Jacob teased. He ignored the daggers Sam was throwing his way and looked down to the woman who now stood in front of him._

"_Now you, Alpha," she urged before Jacob lowered his head and began to drink the liquid. It rolled down his tongue, the strawberry flavor igniting his taste buds._

"_Damn that's good!"_

"_Yes, all of Samara's remedies are quite delicious. We all enjoy them very much."_

_Both Jacob and Sam became startled at the new and unfamiliar voice that filled their minds._

"_Who said that?" Sam questioned._

"_Of what concern is it to you, Quileute?" another childlike voice replied. It was of a deeper timbre than the other voice, more mature with age._

"_Nice to meet you too, Zachary," Jacob retorted sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at the brown wolf._

"_I'd hate to break up this…whatever the hell this is, but that drink-"_

"_Now that you have all tasted my elixir, you may temporarily communicate with each other," Samara said, interrupting the mental conversation that had been going on. "The hatred in your ancestors' hearts has made it impossible for you four shifters to merely been in the same room together in your natural forms. My mixture has lessened the severity of this hatred's effects on you. The Quileute may now return to their human forms at their own discretion."_

_Sam and Jacob stared at her, trying to gauge if there was any truth to her words._

"_Well then, what are you staring at me for? Go on. Tell the poor boys how to retract their wolves," she demanded as she shooed her hands at them._

_With one final glance at each other, they turned their attention to the two smaller wolves. After another twenty minutes of coaching Samuel and Zachary, the air quivered and the boys stood in place of the furry beasts, completely naked and showing no signs of embarrassment in their current state._

"_I'll go inform Evelyn and Elijah," Jackson said, wide-eyed upon witnessing the transformation. He stumbled to the door, never taking his eyes off of the boys as if waiting to see if they would levitate or sprout wings next._

_The room grew silent, the brothers' rapid heartbeats resonated loudly in the two remaining wolves' ears. _

_Soon after, Sam and Jacob easily morphed back into their human forms, hastily untying the strings attached to their ankles and slipping into their khaki shorts. Once their paws were exchanged for hands and feet, the potion's magical qualities were obsolete. The hostility and tension was thick in the air. On alert, Jacob quickly surveyed the room, scoping the scene for any possible threats. Deciding that he was the most dangerous being in the room, he allowed himself to slightly relax, his exhaustion and extreme agitation due to zero contact with his imprint for so long was wearing him down completely. _

_He had to return to Forks soon or he was certain he'd drop dead._

"_Oh! My babies! My sons!" shrieked Evelyn as she burst through the doors, sprinting toward her children with open arms, tears soiling her pretty, tanned face. "Oh mi hijo!"_

_She held both of her sons tightly in an iron-clad grip and kissed their faces with reckless abandon. They in return hugged her just as tightly, burying their heads in the either of the crooks of her neck as they wept. Jacob couldn't stop the frown that formed on his face at the sight of the mother-son moment occurring before him. It was a reminder of something he'd never have ever again. He looked away from them quickly and locked eyes with those of Joham's. _

_Joham hadn't said much since Jacob and Sam had arrived. He'd only spoken when addressed and refused to do any more than nod his head every now and then to show his consent. He was so standoffish that Jacob began to wonder why he was even there in the first place, but the Elders had made no means to send him away. They actually seemed to accommodate him though, in Jacob's opinion, he was so irrelevant to the whole process. He just stood there, watching as dueling emotions of hatred and sorrow used his face as their battleground._

_As these thoughts ran through his mind, Jacob made haste in trying to rid his face of any trance of the evident sadness that dwelled there but before he could, Joham grinned at him. It was a tight pulling of his lips and was very much forced and though he looked like it pained him to do it, this action actually made Jacob feel better. It was as though Joham was telling him that he knew how he felt and that he was genuinely sorry. _

"_Thank you so much. I do not know how I will ever be able to repay you but I will try my best to return the favor whenever need be," Evelyn said, her voice was thick with tears, claiming the Quileute men's attentions. She stood there, squeezing one of each of her son's hands in her own with impressive strength._

"_You have done us a great favor today. We owe you a boundless debt," Elijah added in his deep voice from his place behind his family, his large hands placed firmly on his sons' shoulders. _

_Before Sam or Jacob could reply and relieve them of this debt they felt they must make good on, Evelyn begrudgingly released her boys' hands and cupped Sam's face, gently kissing his cheek before she turned to Jacob and repeated the action. She smiled at them one more time then she quickly reclaimed her son's hands and pulled them with her into an adjacent room. Elijah thanked them once more before turning and following his family. Before the Goodwins disappeared behind the wooden door, both Samuel and Zachary casted a glance back at Sam and Jacob, the look of thanks shone brightly in their eyes._

_The Alphas nodded their heads in acknowledgement of the young boys' gratitude and watched as they vanished behind the white, wooden door._

"_Well then, my work here is done," Samara said before slowly moving towards the door she had come in from minutes ago. Jackson made a motion to follow her but she lifted her cripple hand at him to halt his progression. "I am completely capable of walking myself home, hijo. I am old, not inept."_

_Jackson opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it and took a step back, nodding his head at his mother. She smiled kindly at him before redirecting her gaze back to the black and rust colored wolves. _

"_Have a safe trip home, young Quileute. We shall meet again," Samara said with that eerie smile that made Jacob feel as if she knew something important that he was utterly clueless about. _

_Jacob and Sam watched her retreating figure with confusion as Samara opened the door and disappeared into the darkening sky._

Shaking his head to clear it of the memory, Jacob once again returned to his garage and the task at hand. He had decided on the journey back to Forks that he would leave what happened in the desert exactly where he found it. He had enough problems and he saw no need to tack on the cryptic and crazy dysfunction that was the Navajo tribe. Reaching into the back pocket of his dingy, greased covered jeans, he grabbed hold of the tattered red rag that hung there, using it to wipe the sweat from his face. It was unseasonably hot for early September in the ever-drenched state of Washington, and his abnormal body temperature only made matters worse. He jammed the rag back into the confines of his pocket and once again leaned over the open hood of the car with a wrench clutched tightly in his large hands.

"Sup Jake?" Quil called out as he and Embry walked into the garage, alarming Jake and causing him to jump and hit his head on the car's hood.

"_Shit_! Dammit Quil! Don't _fucking_ do that!" Jacob yelled as he rubbed his head, getting grease in his black hair. He turned his head and saw the huge dint the collision had created in the already shitty truck's hood and swore under his breath. "Great. Now I've gotta fix this shit too."

"Sorry Jake, but in retrospect, this is really all your fault."

"Oh really? How do you figure that? Please enlighten me," Jake said, annoyed at his cousin.

Quil walked further into the garage and grabbed two warm Cokes sitting on the windowsill. He tossed one over to Embry who caught it with perfect ease in one hand before taking a seat himself on a wooden crate. He cracked open the top, the sound of sizzling pop escaping from the metal can as he took a large gulp. "Do I really have to explain the whole super hearing thing? I thought it was pretty damn obvious. Cuz I mean, if you don't know it by now…"

"Yeah dude. You must have been concentrating on something really hard. There's not like porn in there, right," Embry joked as he lifted his head as if trying to peer into the car.

"Aw! No way man! I knew you were holding out on us! It's like ninth grade all over again! Stingy bastard," Quil exclaimed, eliciting a laugh out of his friends.

"But seriously, I don't know what's up with me. I've just got a lot on my mind I guess," Jacob admitted as he blew out a breath and leaned back against the car, his hands gripping onto the rim of the open hood.

"I take it the Cullens are still giving you shit about missing Nessie's big birthday shindig?" Embry inquired, using a snobby voice and drinking his soda with his pinky raised.

Renesmee had just turned one though her appearance resembled that of a five-year-old and her intelligence was years older than that. Since the resident vampires hadn't managed to get into any more trouble as of late, they decided to channel all of their energy into throwing their newest family member a party. Jacob wasn't included in the plans (not like he wanted to be anyway) but from what he saw, the whole event was ridiculous. Why Nessie needed an elephant at her first birthday party was beyond him. In fact, he couldn't think of any age in which an elephant was essential to any party but Alice had insisted on it and that meant that there was no stopping her. Near the end of the planning, Nessie had become extremely excited about the whole thing.

On more than one occasion during Jacob's daily visits to the mansion to see Ness and thus get his fix to stop the aching in his chest, she'd sat on his lap and placed her tiny, pale hand onto his tanned cheek, projecting what she predicted the finished product to look like and how anxious she was for her birthday to finally arrive. In all of her projections, there showed a smiling, cheeky Nessie surrounded by her family with Jacob at her side. It killed him to crush her expectation and when he finally mustered up enough courage to sit her down and tell her he wouldn't be present at her party, she begged him to quote "reconsider." He told her it was really important that he go and before he knew what he was doing, he promised her that he'd be sure to celebrate the rest of her birthdays with her. This seemed to pacify her and she smiled brightly before giving him a big hug and skipping off into the backyard when Alice beckoned her.

"Of course," Jake said with a laugh but all signs of amusement soon faded from his face as he recalled the event that occurred at the Cullen estate earlier that day. "They act like I just blew Ness's party off for no reason. I went over there as soon as we got back to give Ness her gift and apologize for the umpteenth time but Bella told me that Blondie and Pixie had suddenly decided that Ness didn't have enough borates in her wardrobe. So the only rational thing to do was to whisk her off to Paris for a couple of days. Do you know how long it took me to wrap that present in a way that looked _remotely_ presentable?"

"That's rough man," stated Quil as he crushed the metal can in his hand and tossed it into the garage bin on the other side of the room.

"It's whatever. I'm just tired of all the bullshit. Plus that little field trip to the world's largest litter box with Sam the other day really wore me out."

"Oh yeah. How was that anyway?" Embry questioned before he threw his head back and drank the last few drops of his Coca Cola.

Jacob groaned and rubbed the back of his neck as he reflected on the exhausting trip. "It was…_interesting _to say the least."

"My head is spinning from all of the detail," Quil said sarcastically. "Come on man! Give us the dirt! Jared was phased with Sam earlier and he told me he saw that you guys getting all pissy the moment you stepped onto Navajo land."

Jacob sighed. "Yeah, I don't know. It was all really weird. I mean, I know there's still beef between our tribes but actually being on their land, it did something to us, dude."

"What happened?" Embry asked as he and Quil sat up in alert, waiting to hear about any possible action they may have missed out on.

Jacob relented and told them the entire story from the time they arrived there until they finally fulfilled the purpose of their visit and got the boys to phase back.

"Wow! Wait until I tell Paul that a couple of twerp Chirpies learned to phase back six days sooner than he did! I bet he punches something!"

Jacob snorted. "Yeah, because it's not like_ you'd_ be the closest punchable thing there at the time."

Quil smirked, mischief embedded onto his face. "Oh I'm counting on it, bro. That'd be the most fight I've gotten in months."

Things had been relatively calm ever since the standoff with the Volturi a year ago. There were no immense threats being made against the wolves, the Cullens or the mundane humans of Forks. Every now and then the occasionally rouge vampire would pass through but the pack easily executed these threats, often stumbling over their fellow pack members in a mad rush to kill the leech and ease their extreme boredom. Although things were quite as of late, the packs never let their guard down completely. They still ran daily patrols because something deep in Jacob told him that this was merely the calm before the storm.

"I doubt if he'd fight you, Quil. He's turned into a little pussy ever since he imprinted on Rach. It takes a hell of a lot more to even get a rise out of him nowadays," Embry said as he reclined back in the old, blue EasyBoy chair he and Jake lifted from a scrap yard tenth grade year before all of the phasing drama began.

Jacob grimaced. Paul and Rachel have been happily dating for months now and the thought of his hotheaded, longtime pack brother being in a relationship with his older sister still never failed to make Jake shudder.

Embry smiled at Jake's reaction before continuing. "While we're on the subject of hot girls," he began, causing Jake and Quil to shudder at him referring to their family member as anything other than gross, "did you see any bangable Chirpies out there?"

Jacob shook his head at the derogatory name used to refer to the Navajo people. Their spirit animal was once the wolf like that of the Quileute but after the feud began, the desert Natives adopted the eagle as its new spirit animal, thus giving rise to the use of the name "chirpies" by their enemies.

"Like he'd even be able to tell if they were hot or not, Em. Jake's imprinted, dumbass. Hell he can't even tell the difference between a Victoria's Secret angel and a carrot."

"Hey, couldn't hurt to ask. That one chick Jake said gave them an earful sounded like a little firecracker. Maybe she was a relatively hot looking blur. Shit, I haven't gotten any play in quite some time. I'm desperate. Sue me."

"You mean, Kat? Oh man, she was gorgeous," Jacob said as he wiped his hands on the rag, the memory of the hazel eyed girl entered his mind. A grin appeared on his face at the crystal clear picture of her face and he stood there in a dreamlike state.

"What?" Quil asked, his eyes squinted in confusion. "How would you know?"

"How would I know what?" Jacob prompted once his memory released its hold on him.

"That Kat chick? How would you know she was gorgeous? It's not like you could actually see her," Quil continued as he and Embry looked at Jake like he'd lost his mind. "Right?"

Jacob silently cursed himself. This momentary lapse had caused him to reveal the secret he had been harboring for months. From what he had gathered, imprinting was supposed to be it. Once those metal cables latched onto you, your options were supposed to simultaneously vanish. After all, once you met your soul mate, why would you have to search elsewhere? You were guaranteed everything you would ever need within your imprint. You only had eyes for that person, resulting in the other billions of women in the world to literally become nothing more than mere blind spots.

This had not been the case for Jacob.

He could still see women just as clearly as he always had been able to, though slightly enhanced due to the super eye sight that was one of the many perks of becoming one of his tribe's fierce protectors. He saw them with as much precision as he could see Renesmee as he discovered once he was able to pry himself from Nessie's side a month after she was born and ventured into Seattle. He had to go into town to pick up some things for Billy and smiled at the cute, blonde cashier that made it a point to hold onto his hand a little longer than necessary when taking the twenty dollar bill from him. He couldn't explain it and he was too absorbed in his blissfully imprinted life to dwell on it for too long. He blamed it on the imprint still being relatively recent and told himself that the blurred vision would develop with time.

It never did.

"_Holy shit_! You can totally see other chicks!" Embry yelled, his eyes wide in shock.

"No way! That's impossible! Right, Jake?" Quil asked as he got up from his seat and walked closer to his best friends.

Jake ran his hands over his face in frustration. "I can't explain it. Maybe it's because Ness isn't of age yet."

"Dude! Claire still believes in Santa Clause and yet Quil's Queer Vision is still highly intact," Embry exclaimed, calling bullshit as he leaped out of the chair, it squeaked in protest as it spring back up into its upright position.

Quil glared at him. "Shut the fuck up, Call! At least mine is due to an imprint. What's your excuse?"

Quil said angrily. Jacob couldn't blame him for his rage. This one exposed secret was unraveling the very fabric of everything Quil knew about imprinting. He began to question if his imprint to Claire was a permanent thing.

Jacob groaned. "Well then, maybe it's because Ness is half leech. That could have something to do with it," he provided, trying to convince both his friends and himself.

The three lifelong friends exchanged uneasy glances with one another. They all knew that something was terribly wrong but none of them wanted to admit it out loud.

"Yeah, maybe that's why," Embry finally replied solemnly, though all of the boys knew it wasn't genuine.

Quil, on the other hand, just glared at the ground with great intensity, reevaluating the past year or so of his imprinted life.

"You guys can't tell anyone, okay? I don't want anyone else to know until I figure it out for myself so please, let's just drop it," Jacob pleaded.

Both Embry and Quil just nodded their heads, silently giving him their word. Just then, the loud ringing of a cell phone shattered the tension in the room. Jacob pushed away from the car and walked over to the tattered, brown couch, taking his cell phone in his hand.

He smiled at the name that flashed brightly on the screen.

"Hey monster," he said sweetly into the phone.

"Hi Jakey! Mama told me you we're back! You have to come over and see all the stuff Rose and Alice bought me!" Renesmee excitedly squealed in her bell-like voice.

The sweet sound warmed Jacob's heart and the need to be near her grew twenty times greater in its intensity. "Sure Ness. I'm on my way."

They exchanged goodbyes and Jacob grabbed his keys before mounting his bicycle and starting the engine.

"I'll see you guys later, kay?" Jake told his friends.

"Yeah, see yah, Jake. Tell Ness and Bella we said hi," Embry voiced for the both of them since Quil had once again become consumed in his thoughts.

Jake sent a sad smile their way before he revved his black bike's engine and peeled out of the garage, speeding towards the Cullen mansion and his awaiting imprint.

**Author's Note: Gotta love the wolf boys! :D Next chapter the Cullens make an appearance. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


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